Pawlenty in Chicago

POLITICO

Published 3:12 am, Tuesday, June 7, 2011

There's enough red meat in Tim Pawlenty's economic speech today to get the cables interested (he calls President Obama "a champion practitioner of class warfare") but advance excerpts suggest this is going to be a legitimately policy-intensive address. From the text shared by his campaign:

"The United States is still home to the most dynamic and entrepreneurial people in the world. They're all around us, ready to innovate, invest, compete, and create new businesses and jobs. That will mean opportunities for everyone.

"They have been discouraged and weighed down by President Obama's big government and heavy handed regulations. .

"Let's start with a big, positive goal. Let's grow the economy by five percent, instead of the anemic two percent envisioned currently.

"Such a national economic growth target will set our sights on a positive future and inspire the actions needed to reach it. By the way, five percent growth is not some pie-in-the-sky number. We've done it before, and with the right policies, we can do it again."

Governor Pawlenty on business tax reform:

"American businesses today pay the second highest tax rates in the world. That's a recipe for failure, not adding jobs and economic growth.

"We should cut the business tax rate by more than half. I propose reducing the current rate from 35% to 15%. But our policies can't just be about simply cutting rates. They must also promote freedom and free markets. The tax code is littered with special interest handouts, carve-outs,subsidies, and loopholes that should be eliminated."

Governor Pawlenty on individual tax reform:

"Just changing business tax rates is not enough. That's because we know most job growth will come from small and medium size businesses - typically structured as S corps or LLCs - and their owners are taxed under individual tax rates, not corporate tax rates.

"So, pro-job and pro-growth tax reform must include individual tax reform as well. Small business owners and hard working Americans need a better deal too. Small businesses should also have the option of paying at the corporate rate.

"On the individual rates we need a simpler, fairer flatter tax system overall. I propose just two rates: 10% and 25%. Under my plan, those who currently pay no income tax would stay at a zero rate. After that, the first $50,000 of income - or $100,000 for married couples - would be taxed at 10 percent.

"Everything above that would be taxed at 25 percent. That's it. A one-third cut in the bottom rate to allow younger, middle, and lower-income families to save andbuild wealth. And a 28 percent cut in the top rate to spur investment and job creation.

"In addition, we should eliminate altogether the capital gains tax, interest income tax, dividends tax, and the death tax. Government has no moral or economic basis to claim a second share of the same income. When you deposit a dollar in your bank account, every penny should be forever more yours and your children's, not the federal government's."

Related Stories

"I know government can cut spending, because I did it in Minnesota. I cut state spending in real terms for the first time in our state's history. We did it with priority-based budgeting. We did it by setting a record for vetoes. It took a government shutdown and a long government union strike, but we got it done. We didn't close our schools or empty out our prisons. We cut spending where it needed to be cut. We can do the same thing in Washington. .

"There are some obvious targets. We can start by applying what I call 'The Google Test.' If you can find a good or service on the Internet, then the federal government probably doesn't need to be doing it. The post office, the government printing office, Amtrak, Fannie and Freddie, were all built for a time in our country when the private sector did not adequately provide those products. That's no longer the case."

"So I propose that Congress grant the President the temporary and emergency authority to freeze spending at current levels, and impound up to 5% of Federal spending until such time as the budget is balanced. If they won't do it.I will. As an example, cutting even 1% of overall federal spending for six consecutive years would balance the federal budget by 2017."

Governor Pawlenty on Regulatory Reform:

"Federal regulations will cost our economy $1.75 trillion this year alone, it's a hidden tax on every American consumer, built into the price of every good and service in the economy. And make no mistake: the current Administration is hunting far bigger game than the incandescent light bulb.

"The Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill called for more than 200 new rules to be written by more than ten federal agencies, none of them resolving the catastrophic scandal of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Months after the law went on the books, no one yet knows exactly what the law is. .

"I will require sunsetting of all federal regulations, unless specifically sustained by a vote of Congress."

Governor Pawlenty on President Obama's Class Welfare:

"Regrettably, President Obama is a champion practitioner of class warfare. Elected with a call for unity and hope, he has spent three years dividing our nation, fanning the flames of class envy and resentment to deflect attention from his own failures and the economic hardship they have visited on America."